It's been a strange year for Mayo GAA due to toxic defensive ways

by Martin Carney, Mayo's foremost GAA columnist

THE curtain fell on club championship activities last weekend as the completion of the Under 21 B competition brought a strange year for the game at local level to a halt.

Seven days earlier, to a backdrop of an indescribably stormy Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar Mitchels managed to get the better of Claremorris in the A final, while Swinford fought tooth and nail to squeeze past a gallant Erris St. Pat's side after extra time to claim honours in the C grade.

For many in the Mitchels squad, this was a perfect consummation to their glittering underage careers. Beginning with Kevin Filan’s management success with the group as Under 14s, he will have taken great satisfaction in leading them to their latest title.

But for one man in particular, trainer Keith Bourke, the evening had a special significance. Involved in coaching most of these lads from their fledgling days in the game, Keith was a vital cog in the management teams associated with winning titles at Under 14, 16, 18 and 19 age grades.

Starting players Paddy Heneghan, Thomas Waldron, Joe Tuohy, James Cunningham, Ciaran Mylette and Emmett Murphy, all there from the beginning, rounded off their time with underage football in style.

The club scene in general started quietly, with league games affording game time to non-inter-county players. However, evidence of particular patterns and trends began to emerge as the season went on.

The senior league gave us plenty of open and attacking football, culminating in an excellent Castlebar Mitchels victory over Westport in a highly entertaining final.

In the game with both teams attacking with regularity and intent, this was one of the year’s most memorable. Unfortunately the trend dried up; the championship that followed disappointed.

For followers of the game, the shock at the general playing standards for most the senior championship was a recurring theme and topic of conversation.

Admittedly, some of the games at group stage were entertaining but that free spirit that emphasises attack and makes Gaelic football a unique field sport was little in evidence during the knockout stages.

As the championship progressed, games in the main became increasingly robotic, risk-free and low scoring.

The fear of losing grew exponentially. For the most part teams adopted ultra-defensive formations, struck rigidly to the principles of retaining possession at all costs, rendering as a consequence many of the contests barely watchable.

This defensive virus that has plagued much of football at inter-county level since Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland win was firmly embedded in Mayo senior club football all summer.

To execute the carefully pre-orchestrated systems of play, extreme levels of fitness and athleticism are essential.

Quite simply, the majority of club players lack these qualities and attempts to reach levels comparable with their inter-county counterparts is beyond them.

By the time the quarterfinals were held, the games had become increasingly stagnant.

Sustained attacking football was an exception. Most of those who normally were seen as score-takers exercised their energies primarily as extra defenders.

One damning statistic is that from the quarterfinals onwards, six goals in total were registered from the seven games; three of these were scored by beaten semi-finalists Castlebar Mitchels.

In the said championship, Westport were hopeful of defending their crown. Facile wins against Charlestown and Claremorris suggested a team finding form at the right time.

Their defeat, then, to an Aidan O’Shea-inspired Breaffy side was a shock. Little evidence of decline was apparent earlier so that made the defeat even more difficult to understand.

Two late goals for Castlebar Mitchels in their quarterfinal clash with Ballintubber set up a semi-final meeting with Breaffy.

Once more inspired by the O’Shea brothers and an early second-half goal that established a five-point lead, Breaffy did enough to hold on for a win by two points.

Inaccuracy did Mitchels no favour on the day but if anyone told you at the start of the year that Breaffy would contest a county final, they would have frowned at you at best.

Ballina Stephenites, hunting their first title since 2007, reached the decider unbeaten. Indeed, in their earlier group game with opponents Breaffy, they won by a 12 points to 11 margin.

The maths isn’t entirely accurate, but a scoreline registering nearly half this, six points to four, in Ballina’s favour gave them the title.

The less said about the standard in the game the better; the more worrying thing from a Mayo perspective is that few, if any, new forwards staked their claim for senior inter-county inclusion next year.

It’s fair to ask, are team managements discouraging emphasis on and creativity in attacking play by insisting on defence-orientated styles? Are the natural instincts of forwards being coached out of them in favour of their defensive duties?

The standards in his year’s senior club championship left lovers of the game perplexed, yet the hope is that next year a return to a more positive approach will bring an improvement.

In contrast, intermediate and junior football enjoyed halcyon days, with little of the aforementioned defence culture. Games for the most part were well contested and high scoring.

Undoubtedly the team of the year in intermediate grade was Kilmeena.

Fresh from their All-Ireland junior club success in 2022, rather than resting on their laurels, they prioritised winning an intermediate crown their goal – and duly delivered.

Not that they had it all their own way in the final. Peter Ford’s resurgent and impressive Ballinrobe team made light work of all on their way to the final and in a rip-roaring decider lost to the west Mayo men.

It was a game memorable for many reasons, beginning with Luke Jennings' booming restarts in the Ballinrobe nets allied to Evan O’Brien’s point-scoring and Kevin Quinn’s goal.

As they had done so often though, Kilmeena hung in there when all looked lost. Caolach Hallihan’s goal after a wonderful long ball from Darragh Keaveney was important but in the end it was Jack Carney’s brace of late points that swayed the pendulum in Kilmeena’s favour.

With an emphasis on attacking football and use of the foot pass, the game was a fair reflection of the wider styles and standards evident throughout the intermediate championship.

Worrying about their promotion to senior football can wait; for now, Kilmeena deserve time to enjoy the riches reaped over the past two years.

Not alone did the junior grade produce a surprise with Lahardane’s victory over Shrule/Glencorrib in the final, but it gave Mayo its sole provincial club winner when the black and amber defeated Sligo’s Owenmore Gaels in the final.

But if for nothing else, their year will be remembered for that special brace of goals scored in the county decider. Mark Noone’s second, in particular, came decked in ingenious and spontaneous clothing that would have lit up any final, anywhere.

In review, the ‘lesser’ competitions, if you like, had all the fun, uncertainty and enjoyment looked for in the game.

Senior football hopefully will find the appropriate medicine next year to rid itself of its toxic defensive ways.